Odesa media rarely, if ever, cover ATO, and 18% residents of Odeska oblast watch Russian channels — IMI and GfK research

Only 1% of the materials in the printed press, 2% in online media outlets and 13% in the weekly summary news programs of local TV channels in Odesa cover the topic of the ATO, and even less than that — about 2% — the topic of the internally displaced persons.

At the same time, 18% residents of Odeska oblast watch Russian television, and 10% get news from Russian online media outlets.

These are the results of the joint research of the Institute of Mass Information and GfK Ukraine with the support of the Ukrainian Confidence Building Initiative (UCBI), which was conducted in Odeska, Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizka, Kharkivska, Donetska, and Luhanska oblasts.

The share of socially relevant materials on local issues in printed media outlets constituted mere 24% of the total number of materials, and came close to the share of dzhynsa (covertly commissioned materials), while it should have constituted the majority in the local media’s content. At that, of them more than one in every three of local news are about crime or about local political events, and the latter are often biased.

At the same time, online media are much more attuned to their local readership – in them, the share of the socially relevant materials of local importance reached 37% of the total number of their materials. The best indicators of this criterion were registered on TV – 73% of all broadcast materials address local issues.

“We saw that only in one in every four materials in local Odesa printed press adhere to the journalism standard of completeness of presentation of facts and comments, and less than half of them (45%) — adhere to the balance of thoughts and opinions. In online media outlets, about half of materials is incomplete and unbalanced. The journalism standards are best observed on TV”, says the Institute of Mass Information expert Roman Kabachiy.  

Based on the population survey conducted by GfK Ukraine in November-December 2015, 91% of those surveyed in Odeska oblast watch TV, 61% read online media, 39% listen to radio, and 25% read printed press. In Odesa, the shares of those preferring different kinds of media constitute 93% for TV, 67% for the internet, 35% for radio, and 21% for printed media outlets.

The predominant majority of residents of Odeska oblast during a week before the time of the survey watched Ukrainian national and local TV channels (90% and 47%, respectively), and 18% of respondents watched Russian TV channels. For comparison, in Odesa 92% residents watched Ukrainian national TV channels, 58% - local TV channels, and 13% – Russian TV.

The top 5 of local TV channels  in Odeska oblast are «Akademia», «Channel  31 – Reporter», «Hlas», «First City Channel», «Hrad». During the week, 29% residents of Odeska oblast were using the all-Ukrainian websites, 17% - local websites, and 10% - Russian websites.

The results of the research was made available in full on the website of the Institute of Mass Information in Ukrainian and in English.

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For the context:

The Institute of Mass Information conducted the research of the media situation in Odeska oblast, as well as the analysis of content of ten local media outlets (the newspapers «Odeskaia Zhyzn», «Odesskiy Vestnik», «Slovo», «Odesa Visti»; online media outlets dumskaya.net, timer-odessa.net, trassae95.com, uc.od.ua; TV channels «Channel 7», «First City Channel» from September 15 October 15, 2015).

GfK Ukraine conducted the research by the method of individual interviews at respondents’ home, the sample for Odeska oblast was 1895 interviews, of which 674 were taken in Odesa. 

The research was conducted with the support from the Ukrainian Confidence Building Initiative (UCBI), funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).